Sky will be clear after rain
by I.W.P-chan
Summary: A bell rings and a ghost walks in.


Summary: A bell rings and a ghost walks in.

 _Note: for the fake title prompt meme on tumblr. Anon sent for '_ Sky will be clear after rain _' fandom unspecified._

 _This grew into its own thing so posting it as its own one-shot._

 **Warnings: Implied/Referenced Major Character Death (As Per Bad End AU), AU!Akechi, References To The Interrogation Room Scene.**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own P5.

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It's the day after Valentine's Day, and Akira sits at Leblanc's counter in quiet melancholy, slowly making his way through his breakfast, comprised of curry and coffee, as usual. It's only him, Morgana and Sojiro in the cafe at the moment, and neither of the other two seems inclined to break the silence.

Futaba strolls into the cafe half an hour later, yawning as she makes her way to sit at the chair next to Akira's, and Akira stands up, gathering his plate and cup to wash them in the sink.

Not a moment later, the bell hung at the entrance rings faintly, and Akira can hear Futaba's feet thud on the floor as she bolts around the counter and towards the kitchen, holding her plate of curry in one hand, and her cup of coffee in the other.

Akira is momentarily impressed at this display of dexterity, but his thoughts are interrupted by Morgana's yowl and Sojiro voicing his confusion and shock.

"Kids? What is it?" Sojiro asks.

"Oh my god!" Morgana shouts, "What are you doing here?! And what on _earth are you wearing?!_ "

"Morgana?" Sojiro asks again, "Akira! What is-"

Akira whips his head around to stare at the entrance, wondering what the heck is causing Morgana to kick up such a fuss.

Akechi is at the door.

Akira freezes in place.

Akechi is at the door, he's wearing Shujin's uniform, of all things, and he's staring at Akira in surprise and confusion.

Before he knows it, Akira is rushing around the counter to throw himself at Akechi, for what, he doesn't know for sure, as his thoughts swing back and forth between being angry at Akechi for not showing his face sooner, angry at him for throwing his life away to help the Thieves, and relieved to see him alive.

He passes through Akechi's body and slams against the door.

.

It takes a few moments before Sojiro snaps out of his shock before he rushes to Akira to help him up. Futaba stands at the bend of the counter with an agitated Morgana held securely in her arms, and she stares at Akechi's ghost, an actual ghost, face pale and eyes impossibly wide.

"What's gotten into you?" Sojiro asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looks Akira over in worry.

"Akechi…" The name falls from Futaba's lips in a whisper.

"Akechi?" Sojiro repeats, bewildered, "What does he have to do with anything?"

"You don't see him?" Akira gestures at Akechi's ghost at the same time Futaba points at him.

Sojiro shakes his head, and Futaba, Akira and Morgana share shocked looks. Akechi's ghost blinks at them.

He hums thoughtfully, one hand reaching to cradle his chin in a painfully familiar thinking pose, "I don't think it's that surprising. It could be one of those things, after all…" He trails off.

Akira drags himself into one of the chairs to collapse on top of it. Futaba rushes to his side, her eyes never leaving Akechi's face.

Akechi blinks at them before he tilts his head away, something akin to a blush rising to his cheeks, "I know it's surprising to see someone's ghost but I don't think I would have predicted such reaction to my presence."

"You're a ghost," Futaba says bluntly, and Akechi nods, a sad look in his eyes.

"Yes."

Akira can't tear his eyes away from Akechi, the sight painful for so many reasons. Something is wrong, _so terribly wrong_ , about this Akechi.

 _This is not my Akechi_ , a part of him whispers, grief-stricken, still mourning, and mourning anew, yet again, for Akechi's death.

"What are you doing here?" Futaba asks, and Akechi shrugs.

"I don't know, I just found myself in Yongen-Jaya. Given that I had just died, as far as I'm concerned, I had to figure out what brought me to Yongen, so I came to Leblanc, the closest place I can search for clues. I'll admit," He says, looking at Akira, "I didn't expect to see you here."

Akira cocks his head to the side in confusion, wondering why Akechi didn't think he would be at Leblanc, his home.

"Why?" He asks.

Akechi looks bewildered at his confusion, "I didn't think you'd have a reason to be here so early in the morning? Leblanc is not even supposed to be open yet." With that said, Akechi gestures at the clock.

Akira, Futaba, and Morgana stare at him in silence, trying to figure out what to make of his answer.

Akechi speaks as if Akira doesn't live in the same building.

Morgana shakes his head, "Did death knock a few memories out of you?"

Akechi snorts, "I can assure you that, against what I'd prefer, it didn't."

Morgana sighs, "Well then, I guess what you have to deal with now is the fallout of your death. Someone here hasn't had the chance to cope, and seeing you now is considerably jarring." Morgana wiggles out of Futaba's hold to land in Akira's lap, not protesting when Akira grabs him and holds him against his chest.

Akechi closes his eyes, regret clear in every line of his face, "My apologies. I know my death was unpredicted-"

"I'll say." Futaba snorts, frowning.

Akechi winces, "The circumstances certainly caught me by surprise. At some point, I knew there was no way I would make it out alive. I-"

"So you threw your life away instead as a _sacrifice?_ " Akira hisses, gray eyes boring holes into Akechi's form.

Akechi blinks at him in shock, "No? Nothing about my death was as noble as a sacrifice." He chuckles bitterly, "I died a rabid animal's death, put down before I can cause more trouble."

Akira acts before he thinks, completely unregistering what he's doing until after he rushes at Akechi again and his hand flies in an unmistakable slap, only to pass harmlessly through Akechi's face.

Akechi blinks at him in surprise, and Akira allows his arm to drop at his side, frustration pouring out of him.

"I don't know why you're angry," Akechi starts, "Calling my death a sacrifice implies that I actually had a choice in it, that I willingly threw my life away for the sake of someone else, but I didn't."

Akira reels back as if struck, growing cold at the possibility that even Akechi's death, his last act of defiance, wasn't even his own choice, or his own decision.

Akechi frowns at him in concern, stepping closer, hands raised as if he wants to grasp Akira and offer him comfort.

Akira wants to snort at the thought.

"Ren?" Akechi inquires, "What is it?"

"Ren?" Futaba repeats, confused, "Why are you calling him Ren?"

Akechi blinks at her in confusion, "Why not? Futaba, are you alright? That's his name."

"No, it's not," Akira says, "My name is Kurusu Akira. I think you may have mistaken for someone else."

Akechi steps away from him, dread washing over him, "What…?"

Futaba pushes her glasses up her nose, "I think… I think you may have us all mistaken for other people you know." She frowns, "Could it possibly be… that you came from a different world, an alternate reality?"

Silence reigns in the cafe as its occupants register what Futaba just said, and Akechi looks as if she punched him in the gut.

"What?" He whispers, voice hoarse, one of his hands reaching up to clutch at his hair tightly, "What do you mean I'm in a different reality?" Hysterical laughter bubbles up from his chest.

An oppressive aura slams down on the cafe's occupant, cold and heavy, rendering them unable to breathe.

Akechi's form shifts as he continues to laugh, his uniform, pristine and orderly, grows disheveled, with his blazer wet as if someone dunked him in water. His hair hangs limply around his face in wet strands, his wrists ringed with injured skin, his face bruised as if beaten, with blood leaking down it from his forehead.

The three who can see Akechi stiffen, immediately recognizing the injuries for what they mean, what they imply.

" _No_ …" Akira whispers, shaking his head, unable to take his eyes away from Akechi's form, wrecked as it was, showing him exactly what could have been, had he not made it out of the interrogation room alive.

Akechi's laughter cuts off as his form flickers out of view, disappearing completely.

The air in the cafe clears up, and Akira, Futaba, and Morgana, can't tear their eyes away from the place Akechi occupied.

"What the hell just happened?!" Sojiro asks, eyes wide in shock.

.

They explain the situation to Sojiro in choppy, almost incoherent sentences, still reeling from what just happened. Next, they converse among themselves before they decide to text the rest of the Thieves and ask them to come over for an emergency meeting, and then the three of them migrate upstairs, throwing themselves at Akira's bed and curling up close to each other as they try to digest the situation.

The Thieves trickle into the attic separately through the next hour, their expressions pinched with worry over the urgency of the meeting, each of them growing more alarmed at the sight of Akira, Futaba, and Morgana, tense and pale, their gazes distant.

Once everyone is accounted for, Makoto starts, "Akira, Futaba, Morgana, everyone is here. What did you want to discuss?"

Futaba and Morgana look inquisitively at Akira, who takes a deep breath and stands up, commanding the entirety of everyone's attention.

"This is going to sound strange," He says, exhaling and raking a hand through his hair, "But today I, we, saw Akechi's ghost."

The shocked cries are expected, and Makoto shakes her head, incredulous, "That's! That can't be!"

"Are you sure?" Ryuji asks, eyes wide.

Futaba nods her head, "Yes. All three of us saw him. But Sojiro couldn't."

Yusuke frowns, "How curious…"

"But why couldn't Boss see him?" Haru tilts her head, "Is this like how people can't understand Mona?"

"That's a possibility," Futaba says.

Ann fiddles with her hair, "How did he look like?" She asks, voice subdued.

Morgana looks searchingly at Akira before answering, "He looked fine. At the start. But I think he can change his appearance a bit, as he didn't look less than pristine until he grew stressed and his image shifted."

The Thieves who haven't seen Akechi grow quiet, their minds filling in the blanks and painting the result of Akechi's image shifting.

Makoto breaks the silence a few minutes later, "And where is Akechi now?"

Akira sighs again, "We don't know. He disappeared."

"You said he grew stressed?" Yusuke points out, "Do you know why it happened?"

Akira, Futaba, and Morgana share looks between them, and Futaba speaks up, "Okay so, this is the point where it gets strange."

Ryuji shakes his head, "How can it get strange? It's already strange."

"Stranger, then." Futaba shrugs, "We don't think this Akechi is the Akechi we know."

"How do you mean?" Haru frowns in confusion.

"He was wearing Shujin's uniform," Morgana says, "And due to other things he exhibited, we think he came from a different reality, or world, or something along those lines."

"Huh…" Ann blinks, "That's wild."

Futaba grimaces, "I pointed that out, and he didn't take it very well…"

Haru taps her chin thoughtfully, "Do you think he might be back?"

Akira shrugs, "We don't know for sure, but possibly. I don't think whatever is the reason that got him stuck in here is going to let him go that easily."

The group then falls silent again, mulling over the situation, wondering what they should do about it, or if there is even anything they can do about it in the first place.

The only sound that is heard is the brief, faint ring of Leblanc's bell, and when they don't hear Sojiro greet a new customer, the three who witnessed Akechi's appearance snap at attention.

Mere moments later, Akechi walks into Leblanc's attic and blinks at the group gathered.

His face stretches into a smile too wide for it to be genuine, "It seems the whole gang is here today…"

It's a painful echo of something they've all heard before from Akechi, _their_ Akechi (which is a strange phrase for them to think, the concept of an Akechi Goro being _theirs_ ), and they unwittingly flinch.

Makoto is the first to recover, "The whole gang?" She questions, and Akechi merely hums in response.

He takes a sweeping look around the room before he moves, his feet carrying him in noiseless steps instead of the expected floating as he heads to the shelves where Akira keeps the gifts he received from his friends, his confidants, and stands in front of it, carefully analyzing each item, gaze softening when it lands on some of them.

And Akira realizes what that soft gaze means; if the two of them had their roles swapped in the world Akechi came from, then Akechi, despite how much of a strange mental image it makes, was the supposed delinquent put on probation and sent to Tokyo for a year.

He suppresses a shiver as his mind points out a jarring possibility- if their roles had been swapped, and Akechi got killed in the interrogation room, then that means, it means-

"Are you alright?" He snaps out of his daze at Akechi's question, "Wait, stupid question." Akechi shakes his head almost fondly, "You don't look alright at all. What is it? Is my presence bothering you again?"

Akira can feel the gazes of the other Thieves focused on him, but he doesn't look back at them, not feeling up to fending off their worry over him at the moment.

"No. Not directly." Akira blinks, "Wait, did you say again?"

Akechi waves a hand dismissively, "Not directly, you said." He hums thoughtfully as he stares piercingly at Akira, "Not my presence, but what my presence means for you…" He takes another look around the room, gauging its occupants and contents before refocusing on Akira, "Judging from what I see, I can safely assume that you're their leader?"

Akira doesn't react, but the rest blink in shock, and Akechi smiles in grim satisfaction.

"That means you possibly understand some of the things I've been through, _have been_ through some of the things I went through." At this, Akechi raises his hand, with the ring of marred skin caused by handcuffs biting into it showing clearly, and allows it to hover close to Akira's cheek, "But yet our experiences differed, where you escaped alive, I was killed." Akira flinches, but Akechi continues, "Your reactions make me wonder, in this world, was it the Akechi you knew who pointed a gun at your head? And does that make you worried that in my world, the you I knew was the one to pull the trigger on me?"

The atmosphere in the room grows oppressive as the Thieves watch with baited breath, and Akechi allows his hand to drop, taking a step back with melancholy lining his face.

"I see." Akechi stares at him in silence for a few moments, "You don't have anything you have to do today, do you?"

Akira shakes his head, "I still don't have any concrete plans for today, why?"

Akechi smiles, "Since I don't have anywhere else I have to be, or I don't know what I should be doing or where I should be going next, how about a deal? You tell me about the me you knew, and I tell you about the you I knew?"

Akechi probably doesn't know it (or maybe he does, considering the possibility of him having lived the same life Akira led for the past year coupled with his apparent terrifying intelligence) but the wording wins him the proposal immediately.

Akira doesn't even have to think about it, "Deal."

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End

AU where Akechi from an AU where he is the PT leader dies in the interrogation room, with different traitor, ends up as a ghost, and finds himself in canon 'verse.


End file.
